This weekend’s heavyweight championship fight between WBC titleholder Deontay Wilder and former unified champion Tyson Fury is one of the most intriguing matchups of the year for fans of boxing betting.

Does Wilder have enough boxing skill to land his incredibly powerful punches on the well-schooled Fury? Has Fury really come all the way back from his highly publicized battles with addiction and mental health to the point of being able to compete against a legit heavyweight threat like Wilder? The answers are on the way.

Wilder vs. Fury Betting Odds

Bookmakers across the globe favor Wilder to win the fight. According to 888Sport, Wilder (-155) is favored to hand Fury (+125) the first loss of his professional career.

Fury-Wilder Betting Preview

Wilder is a Freak of Nature

Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) isn’t the same class of boxer as Fury. The 33-year-old started boxing way too late for that kind of thing to happen, so his trainers have been smart about what to focus on since he turned professional after medaling in the 2008 Olympics.

Wilder’s jab has improved greatly over the last few years and his footwork has gone from plain terrible to just middling.

But here’s what Wilder does best: He lands effective punches that hurt his opponents, and he finishes them. Wilder is a fighter who relies heavily on his freakish athleticism. He’s always faster than his opponent, and he’s one of the hardest punchers in boxing history.

His ability to win the fight will solely be based on whether he can land anything hard enough against Fury to hurt the former champion.

Fury is a Fantastic Boxer

Fury, 30, has been boxing his entire life. It’s why he boxed circles around Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 and why some fancy Fury (27-0, 19 KOs) for the upset against Wilder. But professional fighting is less about style and more about which fighter can hurt his opponent. Can Fury really hurt Wilder enough to keep the American from coming after him? Probably not.

Fury’s main problem against Wilder won’t be boxing circles around him most of the time. He’ll accomplish that. It will be trying to box circles around Wilder all of the time. Fury’s style worked well against Klitschko because Klitschko is naturally timid.

But Wilder isn’t that way at all, so keeping the Alabama-born fighter at the end of his punches will be very difficult for Fury to do for 12 full rounds.

Fury-Wilder Betting Tips & Best Bet

Knowing the terrible state Fury was in just two years ago and seeing how far he has come, it’s emotionally difficult to root against him. But making smart wagers isn’t about rooting for a fighter. It’s about picking the most likely winner.

Like it or not, Wilder is the most likely winner on Saturday. Fury’s two comebacks did nothing to prepare him for the class of fighter Wilder is at the moment, and he just doesn’t match up the right way to call it any other way.

The odds for the fight sort of allude to this point. Bookies know the betting crowd loves popular fighters, so they price the odds accordingly knowing many bets will come in on the side of the public’s hero.

Fury is tremendously loved in the UK, and there were way more people chanting his name than for Wilder even during the U.S. press conferences. But Wilder is still the clear favorite in the fight. Getting him at -155 is probably a bargain people will notice in hindsight.

It’s likely to look bad for Wilder early in the fight. But Wilder’s incredible mixture of power, speed and ferocity come hard into play after about the fourth round when contestants traditionally begin to tire. Wilder’s entire reign as WBC heavyweight champ has been based on this fact.

Back Wilder at -155 outright for an easy score, and if you’re looking to take a little more risk for a bigger reward, look at SugarHouse’s round group for 7-9 for Wilder to win by KO, TKO or DQ at +500.

Is Wilder vs. Fury on PPV?

Yes. The heavyweight battle will be presented live on Showtime pay-per-view in the U.S. starting at 9 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.